Bill O'Reilly: Jesus Was Despised Too

Fox News host Bill O'Reilly doesn't have a problem with all the "O'Reilly haters" out there because, like Jesus, those who speak their minds are always going to be despised by some.

"I don't have any problem with people disliking me, and I'll tell you why," O'Reilly said in an interview with Sally Quinn on OnFaith. "I'm not comparing myself, but who was the most hated person in Judea 2,000 years ago?

"Many, many loved him, but just as many despised him," he added. "They're always going to do that. If you speak your mind, you're going to have some who like you and some who hate you."

O'Reilly said that the animosity toward religion by those who don't believe in God comes from the fact that they don't want to be judged.

"They don't want religious people judging their behavior, and they don't want to be judged," he said. "They want to do what they want."

The Fox News host used television personality Bill Maher as a prime example of someone who sneers at religion so he can live however he wants.

"Bill Maher does not want to be told what to do. He wants to do whatever he wants," O'Reilly said. "And if it's take drugs, he wants to be able to do that. If it's commit adultery, he wants to be able to do that.

"Whatever it may be, he doesn't want anybody telling him not to. And the people that would do that would be religious people, so he strikes out against them," he explained.

O'Reilly said that he isn't offended by atheists mocking religion, but thinks that "it's stupid."

"None of them can explain how the universe got here, how everything works so perfectly in nature, how the human body interacts — none of them, they have no clue," he said. "Despite all the science and all the technology, everything we have, they don't know.

"Yet they have the nerve to mock people who believe that there's something higher than human intellect?"